


ernest only has lovely things to say about you

by wolfchester



Category: Gilmore Girls
Genre: As Adults, F/M, Gen, I am terrible at writing lorelai sorry, anyway welcome to jess and rory, if people like this I will finish writing the rest, part 2 will come eventually.......but will it be in the next three years? maybe, this is a really old fic I never posted
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-16
Updated: 2018-05-16
Packaged: 2019-05-07 18:47:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14677167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wolfchester/pseuds/wolfchester
Summary: luke and lorelai are getting hitched. a run in between rory and jess is bound to happen. things spiral from there.





	ernest only has lovely things to say about you

It’s June when Luke finally proposes. Lorelai immediately begins to plan a winter wedding in late-November, because she really, _really_ wants white snow to complement her dress (and maybe a few snowmen to decorate).

Rory, of course, is instantly asked to be the maid of honour with Sookie as the bridesmaid, and is promptly shipped back to Stars Hollow from her apartment in New York to help out from the T-minus two month mark. Luke hasn’t chosen his groomsmen yet, and although Lorelai hounds him relentlessly because she has to know what colour their ties are going to be, he’s still unsure about who he wants to stand by his side. He doesn’t really have that many close guy friends. And there’s no way in heaven or hell that he’s getting Kirk to be his groomsman, not that Kirk hasn’t asked. (Begged, actually. Made Luke cupcakes with “please let me be your best man” written out in chocolate icing.)

Unknown groomsmen aside, the wedding planning is going surprisingly well.

Lorelai hasn’t have a caffeine-induced breakdown yet, although Rory is still pretty sure that will come eventually. She wouldn’t be Lorelai if she didn’t.

Sookie is undoubtedly going to be the caterer for the wedding, and has, in fact, already started designing the wedding cake and all seven courses of the reception dinner. Emily Gilmore insists on helping out with the decorations despite Lorelai’s objections. In the end, the bride-to-be lets her mother help Michel with hiring someone else to print and send out the invitations. Lorelai won’t publicly admit it, but it makes her heart happy to see her mother enjoying planning her wedding. (Finally, her daughter is getting married, and even though it’s to The Diner Man, it’s really something special.)

Luke doesn’t do too much, just keeps on working at his diner and trying to figure out how in the hell he’s going to be able to _pay_ for all of this. But it all works out because he’s got Lorelai in his bed at night, and, even better, her face to wake up to in the morning.

The town, of course, is (or at least _attempts_ to be) fully involved in all aspects of the planning. Miss Patty ropes the happy couple into coming along to dance classes with her in order to be prepared for their first dance as husband and wife. Despite previous complaints, it actually turns out quite well. Luke’s left feet get straightened out and Lorelai enjoys the look on his face when Patty points out something he’s doing wrong.

Taylor is obnoxious as always. He wants to provide the drinks for the wedding, all made at his Soda Shoppe and with flavours such as ‘Watermelon Wedding Wonder’ being added to the shop’s repertoire in honour of the occasion. Luke argues it’s horrendous but Lorelai thinks it’s cute and agrees. It takes quite a few kisses to cajole Luke out of his grumpiness after that. 

Lane’s band offers to play the music for the wedding, of which Lorelai quickly accepts. _Anything_ better than the stuffy organ player Emily had lined up to play the wedding march. Lorelai would much rather like to walk down the aisle to a beautiful rendition of REO Speedwagon’s ‘Can’t Fight This Feeling’, thank you very much.

All in all, it’s all set up to be a beautiful day. Now it’s one month to go, and Lorelai and Rory are in the dress shop trying to find The One.

After trying on a mermaid train dress and looking at it critically in the mirror, Lorelai turns to face her daughter, who’s eating popcorn on the settee in the corner of the shop.

“What do you think about this one, honey?” Lorelai asks, walking over to steal a handful of popcorn.

Rory scrunches up her nose. “Too frilly. Too Little Mermaid-y. Too 80s.”

Lorelai makes a similar facial expression and crunches down on a mouthful of popcorn. “Yeah, that’s what I thought, too.” She lifts her arms up and spins around so Rory can unbutton the back of her dress.

“I’m going to go get some more coffee,” Rory says after her mom has wriggled out of the dress and is now trying on an off-white gown with what looks like- are those _shoulder pads_? “Want some?”

Lorelai raises an eyebrow at her daughter. “Is the Pope Catholic?”

Rory grins. “Just checking. Making sure your head is still on straight and you haven’t turned into a bridezilla who hates coffee.”

“Honey, that’s never gonna happen. Now, chop chop! Time’s a’wastin’ and your mamma needs her caffeine!”

Rory just laughs and rolls her eyes, grabbing her purse and stepping out the door.

  


She’s about to open the door of the Pink Lady Coffee Shop (it’s the only good one in Hartford - not _nearly_ as good as the stuff at Luke’s, but then again, she’s probably biased) when Rory quite literally runs into a man dressed in a leather jacket who’s on his way out.

“Woah, there,” the man says at the same time Rory squeaks “I’m sorry!”

She looks up at him then, gets a proper look. It takes a while for her mind to connect the dots, but it gets there in the end.

“Jess?”

He looks the same yet so different. There is a harder edge to him, more lines on his face and darkness under his eyes. He looks like he spends too much time staying up late writing and not enough sleeping. And there's stubble on his jaw, which is new.

But he's still heartbreakingly beautiful and it hurts Rory to look at him.

"Hi," he says, smiling softly and she feels her heart beat double in her throat.

"Hi.” Her reply is just a breath in the frosty late-October air.

"It's been a while," Jess says, shoving his hands in his pockets. He's still grinning that awful grin. The one that makes her feel like she's sixteen again and meeting the fucker for the first time.

"Yeah, it has," Rory mutters, crossing her arms and looking down at her shoes. She can feel Jess' eyes boring into her skull, and it’s incredibly unnerving. Suddenly, the pavement looks much more interesting than it was before.

"What brings you to Stars Hollow?" Jess asks, and Rory head snaps up.

She smiles. “Well, my mom is getting married to your uncle, so there’s _that_. Also, I just really really missed the town meetings. Never know what Miss Patty’s going to get up to next.”

Jess just laughs, a sweet, low sound that instantly she remembers she's missed. A number of images flash through her mind: Jess and her on the bridge, when he ate her salad and almost threw up and they laughed. Jess’ puppy dog face when she said she wouldn’t do her famous Withering Stare for him. Kissing Jess for the first time at Sookie’s wedding. Little things. Important things. Things that make her heart hurt.

Jess doesn’t say anything immediately in reply, and so Rory clears her throat awkwardly, adjusting the woollen hat on her head and beginning to step away.

“So, I should probably, you know, _go-_ ” she gestures randomly to the street behind her. “I was supposed to bring coffee to my mom and she’s probably-”

Jess nods quickly. “Oh yeah, yeah. You should go do that. Of course. Uh-” He scratches the back of his head with the hand that isn’t shoved deep into his coat pocket. “Do you think, maybe, we could get talk sometime? You know - coffee, or something?” He looks sheepishly up at her through his hair and she’s flashing back to six or seven years ago when they were both much younger. His hair was still just as crazy back then as it is now, though.

Rory stops backtracking and nods. “Um, yeah. Yeah that would be nice. I mean, we’re going to be step-cousins or whatever soon so we might as well try to be friends.” She laughs but it’s shallow and doesn’t reach her eyes. Being reminded of the fact that you used to date what will soon be your family member isn’t exactly the loveliest of things.

Jess puts his hands back in his pockets and smiles softly. “Yeah. Okay. Well, I’m helping Luke out again at the diner so if you want to you can just pop in and-”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m sure I will. Tomorrow morning, probably. You know how we are with breakfast at Luke’s.” This time Rory laughs and it makes her eyes sparkle with glee. Jess’s breath catches in his throat and for a second he can barely speak.

“Okay. Well, I’ll see you tomorrow then, Rory.” He waves a hand in goodbye and turns to walk away.

  


“Guess who’s in town?” Rory says as soon as she steps back into the dress shop. Her mom, who is currently wearing a bright pink lace ball gown, turns towards her with a smile.

“Ooh, coffee!” she says, her eyes lighting up like disco balls. Rory hands her mom her takeaway cup and goes to sit on the settee again, taking a sip of her own drink.

“ _Why_ are you wearing that?” Rory asks.

Lorelai shrugs. “I didn’t want to try on any cool dresses while you were gone in case I did find The One and you weren’t here to experience that historical moment with me, so Jane here-” she gestures to the frazzled-looking shop clerk at the front desk who looks at Rory with a _help me!_ kind of stare, “-found me some cute prom dresses to try on! I thought I might relive the 80s while I was at it.”

“Makes sense,” Rory says in reply, taking another swig of her coffee. The hot liquid burns her throat in a familiar and comforting sort of way.

“Anyway,” Lorelai continues, turning back towards the mirror and slipping out of the dress. “Who’s in town? Did old Mr Stevens rise from the dead? God rest his soul. What about Jackson’s awful cousin? Oh _please_ honey, don’t tell me Rune is back.. Ooh, wait - is it someone famous? Like Leonardo di Caprio? Ah, he was so gorgeous in ‘The Departed’. Matt Damon, too.”

Rory rolls her eyes again. “Jeez, mom.” She sighs. “Jess. Jess is back.”

Rory watches her mom pause in place, the pink dress midway off her waist. “Jess? As in Jess Mariano? Luke’s nephew Jess?”

“Yeah.”

“Huh.”

“I ran into him on the way into the coffee shop just now. He looked-” Rory sighs again. “He looked good, mom. He’s not supposed to look good! I’m supposed to see him after three years and be glad I never took him up on his offer to run away with him!”

“You almost _ran away_ with him!?"

“Yes. No _._ That’s not the point!” Rory groans, pressing a hand to her forehead. “He- he asked me out for coffee. Granted, it was only at Luke’s but- _._ ”

Lorelai, having now been rid of that awful pink monstrosity, turns to face her daughter. “Oh, jeez,” she winces. “I forgot to tell you.”

“Forgot to tell me what?” 

“Luke said something the other night about him having decided on a best man and that Jess was coming down to stay until after the wedding. But I was watching ‘Full House’ reruns! I wasn’t really listening!” Lorelai sighs, her bare shoulder dropping. “I’m sorry, honey. I completely forgot.” 

“He’s gonna be the best man?” Rory says in disbelief. “And I’m the best _woman_ -” 

“Maid of honour! C’mon, babe, at least get that part right.”

“-but that means I’m gonna have to talk to him! Interact with him! For the next month!” 

“You just agreed to go out to coffee with him!”

“It was an accident! I wasn’t thinking straight! The- the sun was in my eyes!”

“Well I wasn’t thinking straight either when I didn’t tell you about Jess coming!” Lorelai groans and comes to sit next to Rory, resting her head against her daughter's shoulder. “I’m so sorry, babe. I hate fighting over things like this.”

“Me too. Now, we better stop because I think poor Miss Jane over here is getting a little freaked out.” They both spare a glance at the clerk, who is all but hiding behind the desk. 

Lorelai checks her watch and grunts unhappily. “It’s quarter to six. I’m supposed to be meeting Luke for dinner in fifteen minutes.” She looks up at the seemingly endless racks of dresses in the store. “We have time for maybe one more dress before I have to get back.” 

“Okay,” Rory says with a soft smile. “One more.” 

Lorelai picks out a beautiful cream dress with long sleeves, a full train and lace on the bodice. Trying it on, she spins around in the mirror and smiles bigger than Rory’s ever seen her. Even bigger than when her mom saw that giant pizza on her birthday a few years back, and that was a pretty impressive smile. The dress fits like a glove, looks like it’s been tailor-made for Lorelai Gilmore.

“It’s The One,” Rory says quietly, enjoying this special moment as much as her mom is.

Her mom looks at her and sighs happily. “I think so.”

  


Later that night, Rory is home alone while her mom goes out with Luke to celebrate the buying of The Dress. Not that the Crap Shack is technically her home anymore - that honour goes to her apartment in New Haven - but it contains enough memories and familiarity that she can safely call it that.

 

Her mom doesn’t spend so much time in this house anymore. She sleeps most nights over at Luke’s, but that’s only because it’s got better access to hot cups of coffee and breakfast in the mornings. After they’re married, Luke and Lorelai are planning to live together in the Gilmore house and turn Luke’s old apartment over the Diner into a proper office for the business.

Rory is settled by the fireplace, about to pick up a book to read from her pile on the coffee table, when her fingers brush over a familiar title and her mind floods with a memory forgotten long ago.

 

_It's twelve o'clock at night before Rory finally gets to bed. She snuggles under her covers with a worn copy of 'The Old Man and the Sea.' She doesn't even freakin’ like Hemingway, but something makes her want to read it. Maybe it's being around Jess so much. He does that to her. Makes her want things she doesn't normally want._

_She's halfway through the fourth chapter when there's a knock on her bedroom window. Startling, she jumps out of bed and grabs the hairbrush on her dresser to wield as weapon if needed. (She's not sure why a hairbrush will be a great defence against an intruder, but it's what first came to mind.)_

_"Who's there?" she says into the darkness._

_There's a thump and a muffled groan of pain. Then: "It's me, Rory."_

_She can barely recognise the voice from the wind and snow outside. "Who's 'me'?"_

_"_ Jess _. It's me, Jess. Goddamnit, Rory, just let me in. I'm gonna get frostbite or some shit."_

_Rolling her eyes, she walks over to the window and opens the curtains. Sure enough, there's a blurry, snowflake-covered shadow she knows as Jess Mariano. His breath is fogging up the glass._

_She undoes the latches and opens the window, met with a great sigh of relief from Jess._  

 _"Fucking_ finally _," he breathes. "It's freezing out here."_  

 _"What're you doing, Jess?" Rory asks. She glances up at the clock on her wall. "It's past midnight. I'm sleeping."_  

 _"No you weren't," he replies, then hoists himself up and through the window, his snow-covered boots clumping on the carpet floor much to Rory's chagrin. "You were reading." He spots the cover of the novel on her bed and grins. "Hemingway. Huh. Didn't think you were the type." Jess flashes her a grin that is equal parts beautiful and annoying._  

 _Rory rolls her eyes again and tries to ignore her loudly beating heart. "Yeah, well. There's a lot of things you don't know about me. Why'd you come in the window, anyway? The door is unlocked."_  

 _"I dunno," he shrugs. "It's cooler this way."_  

 _"_ Jess _. You can't just_ do  _stuff like that."_

 _"Why not?"_  

 _She doesn't really have an answer for that one, so just sighs and changes the subject. "What do you want?"_  

_He sits down on her bed and kicks his feet up, leaning against her pillow and opening her book. "I was bored. Thought you’d be home.”_

  _What? You just assumed that on a Saturday night I’d be sitting at home doing nothing?”_  

 _“Yes.”_  

 _She raises her eyebrows. “Well. Good to know you think so highly of me.”_  

_Jess grins and adjusts his seating position so his legs are crossed. “I do think very highly of you.” Rory sits down on the edge of the bed and scowls at him. He laughs shortly at her then leans across, closing the gap between them._

 

The memory comes out of absolutely nowhere and hits her like a ton of bricks, crushing her lungs and making her eyes water.

‘ _Like a ton of bricks.'_ Rory usually hates that phrase. Thinks it’s cliche and overused in modern literature and school assignments. But this time - this time she understands the meaning and feeling behind those words. Because when she sees Jess again, it feels just like that. It feels like an entire truckload of concrete has been emptied onto her chest and she can’t even fucking _breathe_ , it hurts that much. It’s been so many years, and it still hurts.

She spends the rest of that night re-reading about the old man and his marlin and trying not to feel so alone.  


 

The next morning, a bleary-eyed Rory stumbles into Luke’s Diner at quarter past seven. It’s way too freakin’ early to do anything, but Rory’s never been good at making coffee and with her mom not at home, she has no choice but to make the tired trip to Luke’s. That, and she promised to meet Jess there - a decision that kept her awake all night 

The doorbell dings above her head as she walks in. Luke looks up from wiping the counter, his face bright and awake. Her mom is nowhere in sight. Not unusual, seeing as it’s only half past seven on a Sunday morning.

“Hey there, Rory,” he says with a smile. 

Rory manages to pull one out herself and replies. “Hi, Luke. Coffee. Please.” 

Luke chuckles under his breath and turns around, beginning to make her a cup. 

Walking over to her and her mom’s usual booth, she flops down on a seat and makes herself comfortable - which means spreading her stuff and her limbs all over two of the seats and resting her head on the table with a groan. 

Two minutes later, the sound of a coffee cup landing on the table makes her head whip up. Even just smelling the stuff makes her feel more alive. 

She reaches for the cup and takes a sip before she even thinks to look up and thank Luke. Except when she does, she finds it’s not Luke, but a very amused-looking Jess. 

“Rough night?” he smirks, arms crossed over his shirt. 

“You could say that,” she replies, then hums happily as she takes a long swig of the hot coffee. 

Jess slips into the chair in front of her, rolling up the sleeves of his white shirt and resting his forearms on the table. 

“So.”

Rory puts her cup down. “So.” 

“How have you been?” he asks tentatively. They haven’t yet fallen back into the easiness of conversation that they had once upon a time. 

“Oh, you know,” Rory shrugs, staring down at her mug and tracing a finger around the rim. “Graduated last year. I got a job in New Haven as an editor’s assistant for the CT Post.” She shrugs. “It’s...you know. A job. I’m getting my foot in the door at least. But what I’d really like to do…” she trails off, becoming embarrassed with how much she’s talking and how much Jess is just sitting there listening with that godforsaken grin on his face. 

“...Is be Christiane Amanpour, travelling around the world and reporting live from where the _real_ stories are. Iraq. Serbia. Egypt.” He takes a sip of his coffee, his eyes continuing to watch her over the rim of his cup. “You’ll get there one day soon,” he says, putting the cup back down on the table and crossing his arms. “I know you will.” 

Rory flushes slightly at the compliment and clears her throat. “Yeah. Maybe. Anyway. What about you?” 

He sucks in a breath. “Well. You know about Truncheon. I still work there. Just opened up a new branch in Hartford, which is cool.” 

“Hartford, huh?” she interrupts with a small smile. “I would have thought you’d want to be as far away from this place as you possibly could.”

He shrugs, and a flash of something she thinks just might be guilt crosses his face. "I don't know. Kind of felt like something was keeping me here." He looks her in the eyes then - just briefly, but it's enough. Enough to make her mind fill with unanswered questions and heat flush to her cheeks. 

"Huh," she says, lacking words. Jess just smiles. 

They talk for twenty minutes more, and as the time goes on the conversation becomes easier and easier. She laughs at his description of one interesting fan of his book that stalked him for a week last December. He congratulates her on her most recent article, says he read it and told all his friends that he knew you, and she blushes behind her hands. 

It comes to 8 o'clock and Jess looks at his watch and sighs. "Look, Rory, I gotta go. I've got a Skype meeting to get to." He looks over at her and smiles. "This was...good." 

She grins back, still somewhat tentatively. "Yeah. It was." 

Jess stands up, grabbing his coat and empty coffee cup. "Do you want-" he clears his throat. "Do want to get dinner sometime?" 

Rory's heart leaps into her throat. "Yeah. Yeah I would." She stands up as well, picking up her purse and rummaging through it to find her diary. "I've got an appointment with the florist with mom this evening and then I'm having dinner with grandma and grandpa tomorrow..." she sighs. "How does the day after tomorrow sound?" 

He hates that it sounds like a business deal, like they don't know each other anymore. Jess supposes they don't, really. It's been so many years. He's changed. She probably has, too. 

"Sounds perfect, Rory." 

She flashes a smile at him. "Cool. Uh, I don't think you have my new phone number-" she reaches into her bag and pulls out a notepad and a pen. Jess notices the first few pages are full of notes scrawled in blue ink, dates and names and numbers. After a moment, she rips off a page and hands it to him. "There we go." 

"Thanks. I'll call you." 

Rory grins up over at him and slings her bag over her shoulders. "Yeah. Okay. So I'll see you then." 

He smiles back. "The day after tomorrow." 

She nods. "The day after tomorrow. Right." Clearing her throat, she continues. "Well I better be going." She sticks out her hand in front of him. 

Jess is shocked and relatively amused. She wants to shake his hand? Goddamnit. What _happened_ to them? 

But he shakes it anyway. Finds that her hand still fits perfectly in his and her skin is still as smooth and as soft as it was when she was seventeen. 

She drops her hand first. "I'll see you." 

He nods in response and watches her walk out the door of the diner. As soon as the door slams closed, he lets out a loud rush of air. Luke, who's been standing at the counter watching the entire awkward last five minutes, bursts out laughing. 

Wiping pretend tears from his eyes, Luke sighs. "Oh my God, that was precious! She shook your _hand,_ Jess!" He bursts out laughing again.  

"Shut up," Jess grumbles. "It's awkward, okay? She just comes into town and expects to...I don't know - _hang out_ with me. It's so-" 

"Wait- weren't you the one who invited her out?" 

"Yeah, but-" Jess runs a hand through his hair and sighs. "She makes me crazy, Luke." 

At that moment, Lorelai appears at the door to upstairs, hair messy and eyes bleary. Walking like a zombie she stumbles to the coffeemaker, pressing a quick kiss to Luke's cheek as she passes. 

Luke grins and turns back to Jess. "All the best ones do."

**Author's Note:**

> if you'd like to see more of this, let me know! i have the second half partially written, but will only post it if there's some interest :)))


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